The National Air and Space Museum commemorates the history of flight and educates and inspires people through its collections, exhibitions, research, and programs related to aviation, space flight, and planetary studies.

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Audio Collections

The Archives holds a number of audio collections, including oral history interviews and recordings of Museum events.

The recordings, made between the 1950s to the early 1990s, include interviews with notable aerospace personalities and numerous events in the development of flight. Some of the recordings have been duplicated from their original reel-to-reel and audio cassette tape format onto user copy CDs, which are accessible to researchers; other recordings will be duplicated to CD as circumstances permit. Due to their age and fragility, original, unduplicated audio tapes are not available to researchers. However, many of the original tape recordings have written transcripts available.

The following audio collections are available (with user restrictions in some instances):

Reimar and Walter Horten Interviews — Interviews with German aircraft designers Reimar and Walter Horten, recorded by David Myhra, author of three books on the Hortens. The interviews cover the brothers' aeronautical work during World War II, post-war experiences, and family life. Please note that only the audio CDs are available to the public — transcripts are not available. For more information, see this collection's finding aid.

Space Telescope History Project — Interviews with participants in the early planning and development of what would eventually be known as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The interviews, conducted by the Museum's Space History Division, cover the period of the 1970s into the 1980s. The audio cassette tapes of these interviews have not yet been reformatted, and due to their fragility are not available to researchers. However, transcripts of the interviews are available; user restrictions apply to a number of the interviews. For more information, see this collection's finding aid.

Space Astronomy Oral History Project — Interviews that explore the development and use of rockets and satellites to investigate the upper atmosphere and space over the period 1946 through the early 1960s. The interviews were made by the Museum's Space History Division. The audio cassette tapes of these interviews have not yet been reformatted, and, due to their fragility, are not available to researchers. Transcripts of the interviews are available; user restrictions apply to a number of the interviews. For more information, see this collection's finding aid.

RAND History Project Interviews — Originally founded in 1946 as Project RAND (Research and Development) by the U.S. Army Air Forces and Douglas Aircraft, the RAND Corporation became a separate non-profit organization, providing research and analysis on defense issues to the armed forces, in 1948. This collection consists of interviews that explore RAND's efforts to study problems of U.S. national security during the Cold War, particularly from the perspective of the U.S. Air Force. The interviews were made by the Museum's Space History Division. The audio cassette tapes of these interviews have not yet been reformatted, and, due to their fragility, are not available to researchers. Transcripts of the interviews are available; user restrictions apply to a number of the interviews. For more information, see this collection's finding aid.

Peenemünde Interviews Project — Interviews on the development of Germany's Peenemünde rocket complex from the early 1930s through World War II. The interviews were made by the Museum's Space History Division. The audio cassette tapes of these interviews have not yet been reformatted and, due to their fragility, are not available to researchers. Transcripts of the interviews are available; user restrictions apply to a number of the interviews. For more information, see this collection's finding aid.

Glennan-Webb-Seamans Project Interviews — Interviews on management and Apollo program contracting issues at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the period of its first two Administrators, Thomas Keith Glennan (1905-1995) and James Edwin Webb (1906-1992), and Deputy Administrator Robert Channing Seamans, Jr. (1918-2008). The interviews were made by the Museum's Space History Division. The audio cassette tapes of these interviews have not yet been reformatted and, due to their fragility, are not available to researchers. Transcripts of the interviews are available; user restrictions apply to a number of the interviews. For more information, see this collection's finding aid.